It is graduation 2016, and we reflect on the significance of this culminating event. This year, I am reminded of the gifts of knowing, learning, and becoming. I am reminded of our College values. Following is something I sent to recent program graduates:

Dear 2016 graduates,

We have spent tremendous time in one another’s company over the past number of years, in courses ranging from Accounting 1 to Payroll, Tax, and Managerial Accounting, and covering topics from basic debits and credits to complex statistical regression analysis. You have mastered the technical and employability skills so necessary for your success in this field. Yet, my wishes for you extend far beyond the campus and employment settings.

Do you recall when we discussed the difference between cost and price? But how about worth? This is not another accounting lesson, but a parallel to your lives and futures. It is about one of our most important NWTC values: Everyone has worth. Know that each of you is inherently valuable and uniquely significant: Linda’s good nature, Martha’s tenacity, Becky’s positive, quiet leadership, Sergio’s witty antics, Tanya’s no-nonsense style, Tracy’s gentle spirit, Patrick’s offbeat quirkiness, Nancy’s patience and care, and Jen’s beautiful smile and kind heart.

Transcending academics, maybe the most important knowing is knowing who you are; knowing your identity. And maybe the most important learning is learning to honor your own merit in the choices you make and people with whom you surround yourselves. And maybe your most important job is to discover your own humanity; your ability to love and be loved, in respecting others’ humanity.

I hope you value yourselves enough to intuitively protect your humanity and guard your consciousness. I hope you respect yourselves enough to allow close to you only those who genuinely regard your self-worth and emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. And, I hope you are able to embrace the divine worth of yourselves and others in all that you do.

I know I have had the complete privilege of teaching your classes, but I have also learned so much from you. Thank you for lifting me up this past year and for making my job so very rewarding.

Complete College America’s new report, Spanning the Divide Through Corequisite Remediation, presents new and exciting data from five states that have seen dramatic improvements in gateway course success rates in both math and English. These states have scaled a statewide approach to academic support in which students who would have been placed into remedial education are instead enrolled in a college-level math or English course with additional academic support provided as a corequisite. The session will review the report’s findings and some exciting tools for states and institutions are that are committed to implementing corequisite support.

Introduction to Clinical Practice is the first nursing clinical that students will encounter in either the Practical or Associate Degree Nursing programs. The setting for this clinical is the long-term care environment and often where students will encounter clients who may take a numerous amount of medications. Nursing Pharmacology is taught in the first semester as well—–students will start with pharmacology and then move in to clinical once they have some information under their belts. As instructors, we strive to bring the “classroom into the clinical”! Last semester, I had the pleasure of taking over a Pharmacology classroom for a colleague while teaching the clinical associated with the pharmacology class. LIGHTS BULBS WENT OFF! I knew students were struggling with pharmacology in the clinical setting as well as the classroom setting; how could I remedy this? Well, let me tell you what I did!

While watching “Maleficent”, I decided to get my scrapbooking material out. I had BRIGHT colored paper, my circle cutters, AND GLITTER GLUE! Shiny object syndrome was in full affect for me. I tend to recall things better with color and shininess (is that a word?), so maybe my students would too! I began cutting multiple circles of many many different bright colors. I grabbed my marker and started writing medication names on those circles. Before I knew it, the glitter glue was on those circles as I traced the medication names with the glitter glue and my table was FULL of “pills”. Once they dried, I punched holes in the top and put a ring through them. I now had a “wheel of pills”. So you are probably wondering, “what in the world are you going to do with those things?” Well, let me tell you………………………………….

I carried this “wheel of pills” in my scrub pockets at clinical. Randomly throughout clinical, I would pull out the “Wheel of pills”, approach a student and ask them to “pick a pill”. I would then proceed to ask them to tell me what the medication was and what they know about that medication. At first, students were panicked. HOWEVER, eventually, the students started asking me to pull the “Wheel of pills” out and to ask them questions. Towards the end of clinical near the end of the semester with a Pharmacology FINAL exam looming over them, students would play games with the “Wheel of Pills”. It was great to see them accept this strategy so readily as was watching them bring that classroom learning into clinical AND clinical learning into the classroom! It has been a HUGE success and I will for sure continue with it!

How often have you said to your students, “don’t just memorize this, but learn it for life”? I know that I say it almost every day, but does it really stick? I can honestly answer that. Teaching throughout both the Practical Nursing and Associate Degree Nursing programs from start to finish, the answer to that is NO!!!!!!! Well, alright, we always have SOME students who do commit their skills to memory and never forget what step comes when; but, we also have those students who memorize the check off list and forget it the minute the check off is complete. How can we get our students to understand that we really are speaking the truth? How could I, the instructor, assist my students in reviewing their skills and truly understanding what the steps are? And more importantly, why is it important for them to remember their skills steps? Well, let me tell you!

After my students take their State Board exam for nursing(NCLEX), I often follow up with them and ask questions as to how the Boards went. I ask questions that are very detailed oriented: what kind of questions did you have, how many were “select all that apply”, how many of each type/area of nursing(pharmacology, Med/Surg, Mental Health, OB, Fundamentals, Math, etc). and so on. I believe this helps me to develop new activities that will prep my students for the biggest exam of their lives and familiarize themselves with what to expect. Imagine my surprise this year, when I learned that the NCLEX exam had several of my students put nursing skills in the correct order of performance! Immediately, I knew exactly what I was going to do to assist my students to be successful in this area! Basic Nursing Skills is taught in the first semester of both programs and I teach the clinical that is associated with that class: Introduction to Clinical Practice. This clinical is taught in the long-term care environment. There are times that this clinical has some “down-time” and I knew this activity would be perfect to complete at this level! I have taken the Basic Nursing Skills check off lists, cut out each individual step and placed them on flashcards. During clinical, I will randomly give a student a set of flashcards with the directions to place them in correct chronological order! What an amazing opportunity to take the classroom learning and apply it to the real-life clinical setting; in the words of a wise Nurse Educator, “This is where the rubber meets the road”! I cannot wait to try this during the semester. Completing this teaching strategy will allow me to assist my students in being successful. Repeatedly exposing them to the nursing skills will allow them to commit these important tasks to memory and help them to be prepared for their NCLEX exam! Stay tuned for the results!

How would you like to be part of a group of people, who share the same goals, help each other achieve those goals, and build long-lasting relationships while doing so? In this environment you have partners that you can share ideas with, exchange information and recourses and have a strong support group.

My role as the only full time microbiology instructor at NWTC has allowed me to lead my team of adjuncts in the goals of bringing consistency to the delivery of the curriculum and improving student success rates. Continue reading →

As students begin their program nursing courses, they are usually overwhelmed with the myriad of assignments and due dates. They have often been working full-time and fitting in their prerequisites with fair success. Then they have to transition to focusing on at least three very demanding courses at once. To help them see the big picture, I prepare an 11 X 17 paper calendar of the semester for them, and they can fill in not only due dates and exams, but more importantly their study times. Too often they think linearly and only see what comes next. Many students have found this “old-fashioned” way helps them see the big picture, and not get caught when they turn a month page on their calendar and find something huge staring them in the face. While this especially appeals to those who are not digital natives, it can also show those using electronic calendars how to set up their own versions.

The end of the semester is upon us. A season many students, and instructors, dread…final exam season. Over the last week, I have been thinking about the effectiveness of my exams. Not all, but many are your typical exam. I started to plan review games, worksheets, or outlines and thought, “Is this helping me know what they know?” Since then I have been on a mission to change the end of my semester.

We know that our students are academically successful when they feel engaged on a personal level with their instructors and in a broad sense, the college as a whole. It only makes sense given that new students often feel “lost” in the institution. College has a new set of expectations, much different from high school. Unfortunately students may not be fully prepared for this transition.